Time Saving Tricks Every Parent Should Know
There are never enough hours in the day are there? For every job you tick off your to-do list, another three take its place. And I bet, not one of those jobs is something for you.
Finding time for yourself in the whirlwind that is parenting is always a challenge. You can usually find it late at night once the children are finally sleeping, the house is tidied, the school lunches are made, and perhaps when you’ve finished up some work that you’ve brought home. Then you find yourself staying up in to the early hours of the morning trying to squeeze every last second out of the night – because it’s your longed for free time!
But it’s always a double edged sword, as a late night is no friend to an early morning with children.
While caffeine always helps, there are also plenty of ways to save some time – and sanity – during the day. Here are a few of our favorite time saving hacks that every parent should try out if they haven’t already:
1) Pressure Cooking: The Instant Pot in particular is getting a bit of a cult following from parents across social media. And it really lives up to the hype. It saves time, money, energy – even vitamin loss from food. Imagine getting home at 6pm, realizing you have forgotten to take the chicken out of the freezer for tonight’s dinner, but then still sitting down for that same dinner by 7pm. With a pressure cooker, you can make fall off the bone tender meat from frozen in super speed. There are heaps of fast ‘one pot’ recipes flying around too – which saves all that washing up time as well.
2) Clothes Prep: Every Sunday night, lay out five sets of ready-to-go clothes for both the little ones AND you. Mornings are always manic, so this little tip eliminates some of the cranky breakfast-time drama. Even if you are a SAHM and don’t plan to go out, leave the clothes out for yourself. While pajamas are tempting, you always feel better, and more on top of your game, when you get fully washed and dressed in the mornings.
3) Share the load: Kids as young as two can be helpful around the house, so don’t forget to give them things to do. Not only will it teach them about responsibilities, it will cut down your cleaning time. Make it fun and put special ‘clean up’ music on. Little ones can pick up toys from the floor, put things in the trash and wipe the table clean, while older kids can help you sweep, dust and even fold the laundry.
4) Freeze berries: We all know that a hungry child needs food NOW! A three – five minute wait for it to cool down is not negotiable! If you freeze some berries or applesauce in ice cube trays, they can help you quickly cool down hot foods like oatmeal. Even regular ice cubes will work for soups and steamy stews.
5) Let Lucy Do It: There’s nothing worse than being on hold when you have other things to do. This clever app called Lucy Phone allows you to connect to your bank, cell phone provider, airline etc and, if you get put on hold, they will wait in your spot for you. When it’s your turn, you will get a call back. In the meantime, you can crack on with another job on the list.
We could go on all day – from dry shampoo to microwave instant cleaning tricks. It’s well worth a google. Just remember to be realistic. While you might free up a little more time using a hack here and there, don’t put pressure on yourself to complete that to-do list every day. You are not a magician – there really aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all. But there are certainly enough tricks out there to make your day run a little smoother.
